Reviewed by Lesley

TITLE:  Knowing You: A Single Dad Romance

SERIES:  Words We Never Said: Book One

AUTHOR: E.M. Lindsey

PUBLISHER: Self published

LENGTH: 257 Pages

RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2024

BLURB:

 “Oh my God, Briar! Where did you get that prosthetic leg?”

Things as a parent Lane thought he’d never say for four hundred, Alex.

But that’s par for the course in Lane Ashbury’s life considering everything is on the verge of falling apart. He not only has a toddler building her skills as a professional klepto, but he’s also on the verge of divorce, and hoping desperately to save his business before it goes under.

Luckily, the owner of the stolen leg might just be an angel in disguise when he offers to be Lane’s new nanny instead of pressing charges.

The whole thing would be perfect if Bowen Galanos didn’t make Lane feel things. If he didn’t make Lane question everything he thought he knew about himself every time Bowen’s touch lingered just a little too long.

And when Bowen offers some no-strings benefits to their friendship to see if maybe Lane’s not as straight as he thought, Lane finds it impossible to say no. I mean, it’s not like he’s going to realize he’s madly in love with his nanny, right?

That would be absurd.

That would be ridiculous.

And knowing him, that would be exactly his luck.

Knowing You is the first book in a light-hearted, single-dads romance series. It features a toddler with sticky fingers, a tired dad who just wants to be loved, a former stunt actor who craves to be needed, Henry Cavill man crushes, a hint of sweet, a twist of angst, a steamy bisexual awakening, and the happiest of happily ever afters.

REVIEW:

One of the things that I really enjoy about EM Lindsey’s writing is the way that characters are described and developed in their books.  This story is no different.  The opening lines of this book “Stop calling me crazy. No reasonable person takes a vacation for two years. That’s not a vacation. That’s moving out!” But the truth was, Lane was starting to feel a little like he was losing his mind. E.M. Lindsey. Knowing You – E.M. Lindsey (Kindle Locations 80-82). Kindle Edition. along with the quote in the blurb “Oh my God, Briar! Where did you get that prosthetic leg?” immediately start to paint a picture of Lane and his daughter. A picture of a completely stressed out, overwhelmed, pulling his hair out dad that is for all intense and purposes a single parent, with a kleptomaniac child.

This picture is further developed as you read on and understand just how overwhelmed he is and out of control things have gotten despite his best efforts. After learning more about Lane’s absent wife and how she behaves towards him you start to understand more of his personality and how things have gotten to where they are.

The first time we meet Bowen just a few pages into the book you get the impression of a cheery chappy despite having been through a bad break up. But you soon get to learn there is much more depth to him than that.

I really enjoy how their relationship develops and the challenges they both have to face to be able to function well as a couple.  Lane needs to understand his sexuality and why Henry Cavill in tights does it for him and Bowen needs to become more comfortable with the loss of his leg. They both need to get over their previous destructive relationships.

The other thing I appreciated was the way that EM Lindsey deals with Bowen’s disability. The scene when he gets up to run to Lane and forgets he hasn’t got his leg on rang very true based on what a friend who eventually lost both his legs says. They feel like they are still there. His embarrassment after hitting the ground also felt very true- no-one wants to be seen like that by anyone, especially not someone you are crushing on

This book is the start of the Words We Never said series and we are introduced to several of the characters that I am sure will be in future books. We meet Frey a single Dad with a young deaf son, who becomes Lane’s best friend in this book whose story is next and I am hoping Adel, Bowen’s hot firefighter brother is the one after. These secondary characters are integral to this story, and you see their character development also beginning in this book.

I am really looking forward to the rest of this series.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon